Contraceptive Drugs Increase Risk for Blood Clots

Popular birth control pills are widely used by most of the women who would like to have spacing between the births of their children. Others used birth control pill because of emotional and financial readiness. These pills underwent series of safety tests in order to prevent other complications which can put risk on the health of many individuals using it. However, federal health scientists noted that Bayer drug and other newer birth control treatments are associated with an increase risk of having blood clots.

Birth control pill Yaz or also known for its generic name drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol is one of the drugs to be found out by FDA that can increase the risk of the development of blood clots among women who are using it as compared to the older drug levonorgestrel. This medication functions by preventing ovulation and causing changes in the cervical and uterine lining, making conception more difficult.

The pill Yaz and other newer birth control medications which contain drospirenone were product of Bayer’s second-best-selling franchise. Bayer Healthcare which is a subgroup of Bayer Company located in Germany is the one who are producing the birth pill medications such as the Yaz and other newer drospirenone-containing pills.

The new study which was released by Food and Drug Administration, involve analysis and examination of medical records of over 800,000 American women who were taking various birth control medications anytime from year 2001 and 2007. The findings of the research reveal that among the examined women in general, there is about 75 per cent of possibility that these women can experience the development of blood clots as compared to those women who are taking the older birth control medications.

Although Bayer Healthcare said that they cannot comment regarding the new publication of FDA about the pill Yaz and other newer birth control medications, still, they would be investigating about it.

Also, according to the FDA, they have not reached the final conclusions yet on the issue of the drug’s safety, however, they will be still conducting investigation and they will confer with other scientific advisers in a meeting.

FDA is now facing a lot of hurdles because despite their publication, still they continue to approve the use of these new birth control drugs which have issues on safety and effectiveness compared to other established drugs already available in the market.

Moreover, the new publication made by FDA is calling to re-evaluate the safety of birth control pills in order to ensure that those individuals who are using it will be safe and secure against other possible complications which may arise as a result of its usage.

In the same sense, the Center for Young Women’s Health said that “Birth control pills with estrogen may cause a slight increase in the risk of developing blood clots in the legs. Among young women who do not take the Pill, 5 out of 100,000 teens and young women per year develop blood clots. Among women who do take the Pill, the risk slightly increases to 15-20 out of 100,000 women per year. Find out if anyone in your family (blood relative) has had blood clots, especially when they were young. If you are a smoker, try to quit as soon as possible.”